1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a car alarm transmitting and paging system and particularly to improvements to an existing conventional car alarm transmitter and conventional phone pager which allow the pager to be used dually as a pager and also as an alarm activation notification device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art has provided car alarm systems with various functions, methods, layouts, and constructions to combat the auto-thefts and corresponding climbs in insurance rates. The prior art can be broadly classified as localized car alarm systems and car alarm systems with tracking and locating capabilities. Localized car alarms such as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,660 to Chen and Shee and U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,867 to Stouffer activate the alarm system when the vehicle is intruded upon. However, if the owner of the vehicle or a security personnel is not in the vicinity, there is a high likelihood of the vehicle being stolen because a means of notifying the owner of the vehicle alarm activation in real time is not provided. Consequently, most people are not willing to take action against theft if the vehicle being stolen is not theirs. Moreover, with the increasing number of false alarms, an activated alarm is often ignored. In summary, this type of security system does not provide a means of alerting the owner of alarm activation in real time regardless of the location of the vehicle with respect to the owner. Car alarm systems with tracking and locating capabilities as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,844 to Mansell and Riley does not provide a means of notifying the owner of car alarm activation in real time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,495 to Tompkins discloses a beeper controlled auto security system in which a vehicle disabling device such as an ignition kill switch is selectively activated either by a hand held of transmitter unit or a beeper paging system satellite transmission initiated by a telephone call which may be at a very remote location from the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,495 does not disclose an improvement to an existing commercial phone pager to allow the pager to be used as an alarm activation device, as the present invention does. Moreover, the beeper taught in this invention cannot operate dually as a conventional phone beeper and an alarm activation device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,308 to Tanaka discloses a mobile radio system which has an upward and downward control channel for controlling a call-out transmitted from a mobile terminal station, independently from a communication channel. This invention includes a portable receiver which notifies the user of alarm activation, but the receiver does not work dually as a conventional phone pager.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,974 to Simms et al. discloses a fully automatic personal security system which combines the advantages of worldwide LORAN-C or GPS navigation with the substantially worldwide communication capabilities of a cellular telephone or communication satellite. This invention does not incorporate the use of a conventional phone pager and thus does not disclose a dually functional pager which operates both as a conventional phone pager and also as a notification device of alarm activation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,217 to Toner discloses a method and apparatus for monitoring safety of persons within a predetermined area which includes personal transmitters for wirelessly transmitting distress signals. These transmitters, however, are not conventional phone pagers and thus do not function dually as a pager and an alarm notification device.
The present invention significantly improves upon the prior art by providing a car alarm system whereby an existing in-vehicle car alarm system and a commonly available phone pager are utilized in conjunction with the present invention to provide a real time car alarm activation notice to the user even though the user may not be in the vicinity of the car and to void the necessity of the user having to carry separate pagers for the car alarm system and for personal use.
Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improvement to a conventional phone pager and a transmitter used in conjunction with a conventional car alarm in order to provide the carrier with real time notification of alarm activation.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an alarm system which reduces the amount of pagers or notification devices a carrier must hold in order to have access to adequate notification.